Wrench.



. No. 7l5,980. Patented Dec. l6, I902. 0. P. CASE & T1 Y. VINCENT.

WB E N C H.

(Application filed Jan. 25, 1902 UNITED STATES.

PAT NT FFICE.

OMER P. CASE AND THOMAS Y. VINCENT, OF CANANDAlGUA, NEW YORK;

SAID CASE ASSIGNOR OF HIS RIGHT TO HADLEY 0. CASE, OF CANAN- DAIGUA, NEW YORK.

WRENCH.

SPEGIFICATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 715,980, dated December 16, 1902. Application filed January 25, 1902. Serial No. 91,186. (No model.)

Too/ll whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, OMER P. CASE and THOMAS Y. VINCENT, of Canandaigua, in the county of Ontario and State of New York,

5 have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wrenchesyand we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming I a part of this specification, and to the reference-numerals marked thereon.

Our present invention has for its object to provide a wrench thatmay be readily and quickly adjusted to a nut or similar object I and when so engaged the jaws therefor shall be securely locked and prevented from separating when pressure is applied between them, but which may be easily adjusted by a manual operation.

To these and other ends the invention consists in certain improvements in construction and combinations of parts, all as will be hereinafter fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a wrench constructed in accordance with my invention, and Figs. 2 and 3 are enlarged longitudinal sectional Views illustrat- 0 ing the operation.

Similar reference-numerals in the three figures indicate similar parts.

A wrench constructed in accordance with our invention embodies a shank 1, carrying at its outer end the stationary jaw 2 and provided upon its opposite extremity with the usual handle 3. The shank is preferably constructed of arectangular metallic bar having the opposite plane parallel faces 4 and 5.

The movable jaw (indicated by 6) is formed at the end of a head 7, provided with a central longitudinal aperture, through which the shank 1 extends, and carrying suitable lockin g mechanism to be further described,where- 7 by the jaw may be secured in any desired position of adjustment relative to the stationary jaw. The locking of the head is accomplished by the cooperative action of two independent locking members engaging the 5o shank, one of which engages the shank and becomes a binding member, while the other also engages the shank to lock the head thereon in such a manner as to prevent the release of the former member'without a positive operation of the latter. Arranged in the head and at its inner end is a recess 10, having the rear wall 11 and the bottom 12, extending from the latter and inclined upward slightly toward its forward end relative the lower face 4 of the shank. Lying in said recess is a roller 14, loosely engaged between the proximate face of the shank and the inclined bottom of the recess, said roller constituting the binding or clamping member. A similar recess 15 is arranged in rear of the recess 10 at the opposite side of the shank and is provided with the face 16, inclining toward its forward end relative the upper face 5 thereof. The locking member is a roller 18, operating between the face 5 and the inclined face 16, and in order that it may normally be held in engagement with the two faces a coil-spring 19 is arranged to operate against the rear side of the roller, as shown.

The operation of the device will be. readily understood. When it is desired to close the jaws, the head 7 carrying the movable jaw 6, may be slid upon the shank toward the stationary jaw, so that in fitting the wrench to a nut or similar object it is simply necessary to place the jaws over the latter and move them relatively toward each other, which movement causes the inclined faces 12 and 16 of the recesses to move in a direction away from their respective rollers. It will be noticed that the longitudinal aperture through the head is a trifle wider than the shank 1, and especially so at the rear or outer end of the head, where sufficient clearance is provided to permit the head to be tilted or rocked slightly either to clamp the head or to free it, so that it may be moved outwardly, as will be further described.

The arrangement of the two rollers out of alinement and the locking-roller in rear of 5 the clamping or binding member provides a construction in which the pressure applied between the jaws tending to separate them will rotate the head upon the clamping member 14, moving the inclined face 12 toward the roller 14, causing the latter to engage the proximate face of the shank and securely bind the parts,preventinga separation of the jaws. It will be seen that the locking member being above and in rear of the roller 14 the head requires but a very slight tilting motion, as the roller is fitted between the parts. In order that the locking member may be retracted, the sides of the recess 15 are removed, the roller 18 being prevented from lateral movement therein by the heads 20 on the ends thereof, which engage the sides of the shank 1, as shown particularly in Fig. 1. The faces of the heads are slightly concaved to afford a convenient hold for the operators fingers when moving the roller against the tension of the spring. To separate the jaws, the operator moves the roller 18 rearwardly in the recess 15, thereby disengaging it from the inclined face 16 and permitting the rear end of the head to be moved to the position shown in Fig. 3, releasing the roller 14 and permitting the head to be moved rearwardly. Upon releasing the locking member it will be moved into engagement with theinclined face 16 and the rear end of the head elevated into the position shown in Fig. 2. In this figure it will be noticed, however, that the lower edge of the longitudinal aperture in the head in rear of the roller 14 does not engage the shank, so that when pressure is applied to the face of the jaw 6 the rear end of the head may tilt upward slightly, causing the roller 14 to be more firmly wedged between the faces 12 and 4. As the inclined face 16 is raised correspondingly relative to the face 5 of the shank the spring 19 forces the roller 18 forward, securely locking the parts and preventing the rearward movement of the jaw until the binding member or roller 14 is released, as before described.

Wrenches such as we have described are simple in construction and embody but few parts, which may be easily assembled to form a device that may be quickly adjusted to various sizes of nuts, and when applied thereto the jaws of the wrench are positively locked against accidental movement.

While the illustration and description of our invention have been confined to its application to a wrench, it will be readily suggested to those skilled in the art that the means for clamping and locking the movable jaw may also be employed for securing similar adjustable parts upon various classes and forms of devices and that its illustration as applied to a wrench is only one of the many uses in which it may be employed, and in such an instance the shank I referred to will be considered as a support upon which the head forming a stop thereon is mounted for longitudinal movement.

We claim as our invention- 1. The combination with a shank or bar, of a member extending upon opposite sides thereof and movable longitudinally on the bar, having the inclined surfaces arranged out of alinement and at opposite sides of the support, a clamping member arranged between one of said surfaces and the support, and a locking member cooperating with the other inclined surface and the support at one side of the clamping member and movable independently of the clamping member.

2. The combination with a shank or bar, and a member extending upon opposite sides of the bar and movable longitudinally thereon, having the inclined surface at one side of the bar, the clamping member lying between said surface and the bar and a similar surface in the member at the opposite side of the support, a locking member engaging between said surface and the support and out of alinement with the clamping member, and means for operating the former member into engagement with the two surfaces independently of the clamping member.

3. The combination with a shank or bar, a movable member provided with a longitudinal aperture through which the bar extends, greater in diameter than that of the bar, an inclined surface arranged at one side of the aperture, and a similar surface provided at the opposite side of the aperture, a clamping member located between the first surface and engaging the proximate side of the support, a locking member cooperating with the second inclined surface and the support in rear of the clamping member to tilt the stop upon the latter, and means for holding the locking member normally in engagement with said surfaces to retain the stop in the tilted position.

4. In a wrench, the combination with a shank having a jaw, of a head movable longitudinally on the shank, and the second jaw projecting at one side thereof, said head having an inclined surface thereon on the side from which said jaw projects, and a similar surface at the opposite side of the shankopening, a clamping member normally loosely engaging the first-mentioned surface and the shank, and a locking member operating in rear of the clamping member and between the second surface and shank, and a spring normally holding the locking member in engagement with said surfaces.

5. In a wrench, the combination with a shank having a jaw, and a head movable longitudinally on the shank carrying a second jaw, and provided with a recess at one side of the shank-opening having the inclined bottom and having a second recess at the opposite side of the shank, said recess being open at the sides and having the bottom inclining forwardly toward the shank, of a clamping member arranged in the first recess and engaging the bottom thereof and the proximate face of the shank, a locking member arranged in the second recess and above and in rear of the clamping member, and means normally forcing the locking member between the inclined face of the second recess and the proximate face of the shank.

IIO

6. In a wrench, the combination with a shank having a jaw, and a head movable longitudinally on the shank and also permitted a slight lateral movement of the shank at its outer end and carrying at its inner end and at one side a second jaw within which portion is provided a recess having an inclined bottom, of a roller in said recess engaging the bottom and the proximate face of the shank, and means normally operating to hold the outer end of the head against lateral movement. I

7. In a wrench, the combination with a shank or bar having a jaw, and a head movable longitudinally of the shank and permitted a slight lateral movement theron at its outer end and carrying at its inner end and at one side a second jaw, said head having a recess adjacent the jaw provided with an inclined bottom and also having a similar recess in rear of the former located at the opposite side of the shank, a roller operating in the first recess to clamp the head to the shank, a movable roller operating in the second recess to prevent lateral movement of the outer end of the head and prevent the disengagement of the clamping-roller, and a spring normally holding the locking-roller in engagement with the adjacent faces of the recess and shank.

8. In a wrench, the combination with a shank or bar having a jaw thereon, of a head or member movable longitudinally of the shank having a jaw and recesses therein on opposite sides of the shank-opening having their rear surfaces inclined relatively to the plane of the latter and clamping-rollers arranged between the shank and inclined surfaces, one of said rollers being arranged to engage the shank beneath the jaw and the other to engage it on the opposite side and in a lower horizontal plane, the latter roller being manually operable to release the head.

OMER P. CASE. THOMAS Y. VINCENT. Witnesses:

HORACE W. FITCH, HERBERT G. FITCH. 

